Phantom

By: Craig Thomas
Event: PhD Artwork Participation Session pilot / scoping study
Site: CSAD Space Workshop
Type: Body-focused, immersive artwork, duration variable
Date: Developed and tested between July and November 2013

Phantom is a body-focused, immersive artwork that forms part of the part-time, practice-based PhD entitled, ‘Can measurement of audience response help evaluate whether an artwork conveys the artists intention?’

Phantom endeavours to elicit a potent, visceral and precise bodily response. The specific intention is to elicit a sudden, involuntarily feeling of short-lived uncertainty (resulting in a sensation that could be described as; a chill up/down the spine, hair stand on end and/or goose bumps/pimples). A series of controlled Artwork Participation Sessions were conducted to evaluate whether Phantom conveyed this artistic intention.